Overwatch March 15 patch delights fans by removing Paris & Horizon Lunar Colony

While the community patiently awaits the Overwatch 2 beta, Blizzard Entertainment seem to have rewarded fans with a March 15 patch that removes two divisive Quick Play maps: Paris and Horizon Lunar Colony.

Overwatch has been around since May 2016 and, in recent years, the majority of fan complaints have stemmed from an absence of new content.

So, it might therefore be surprising that Overwatch’s March 15 patch is being applauded for… removing content. The update added a new Sombra skin, fixed some bugs, and added a competitive 6v6 Lockout Elimination mode. Still, players seem most happy that it also took Paris and Horizon out of the map pool.

With Paris known as the game’s most “hated” map and HLC routinely getting requests for changes, the game’s players seem thrilled that both 2CP maps have been removed.

Overwatch March 15 patch removes Paris & Horizon Lunar Colony

A Reddit post about the new patch honed in on just this aforementioned subject. As ‘boingosmoingo’ enthusiastically noted, “they finally removed Paris and Horizon!”

Others were quick to chime in, happy that the maps have been fully purged following their removal from ranked play. One responded “thank f**k,” while another laughed at the entire situation: “When the best content in the last two years was removing stuff.”

• Read more: How to unlock Sombra’s new ‘Zhulong’ Overwatch League skin

The maps, while aesthetically pleasing, have never quite caught on with the player base – despite attempts at tweaks in the past. With the Overwatch 2 beta unavailable until late-April, it seems that fans are glad the current game won’t be as annoying to play until then.

Overwatch March 15 update: Full patch notes

GENERAL

Overwatch League Grand Finals Championship Skin

The new Sombra Skin “Zhulong” celebrates the Shanghai Dragons’ achievement in becoming the 2021 Overwatch League champions. The skin is purchasable for a limited time for 200 Overwatch League Tokens.

NVIDIA Reflex

The trigger flash option has been removed from the options screen. To enable the trigger flash display for your Reflex Analyzer monitor, please update to driver version 511.79 or later and update GeForce Experience to version 3.25 or later. 

COMPETITIVE: 6V6 LOCKOUT ELIMINATION

Season 5 of Competitive 6v6 Lockout Elimination has begun!

MAPS

Horizon Lunar Colony and Paris have been removed from Quick Play and related modes.

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug that caused the Contenders logo to be low resolution on Contenders skins
• Fixed a bug that caused “Ban list is full” to appear in the chat repeatedly
• Fixed a bug that caused friends to be visible on the “Recent Players” list
• Fixed a bug on PC that caused microphone sound distortion

Heroes

Echo

• Fixed a bug that caused re-meching as a duplicated D.Va to grant too much Ultimate charge

Maps

Watchpoint: Gibraltar

• Addressed a geometry exploit